Understanding why natural hazards occur can help countries to manage or prevent their consequences. Case studies illustrate the impact of natural hazards in the short and long term.
A natural hazard is the threat of a naturally occurring event happening in a particular area often without warning, which has negative impacts on people and the landscape. Examples of natural hazards include tropical storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.
Globally, natural disasters kill 60,000 people per year, on average.
Tropical storms are found between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere and between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere.
They originate over the eastern side of oceans and move westwards where, when they cross land, they cause great devastation before dying out. Tropical storms over 74mph are called hurricanes in the USA, cyclones in India and typhoons in China and Japan.
In order for a tropical storm to form, the following conditions need to be met: